A Plus Mowing & Landscaping

Review: The owner of this business Mr. [redacted] is not consumer orientated. He subcontracts the company's services as he is employed as an electrian full time. I start with this because I feel this is the root of the poor quality of work provided by the subcontractors he uses to perform services. There was no indication of this on our initial coantact. He is extremely poor in returning telephone calls. He does not physically check the work of his subcontractors. He has made statements to me one time by phone, one time in person (my wife was present), and one time by text which he never followed through on. The biggest complaint is the snow plowing damage done by a subcontractor to our lawn and rock wall. As of May 23rd when we terminated his services, the repairs were not done. The last time I contacted Mr. [redacted] on this issue (Tuesday May 14) he stated the work would be done "tomorrow afternoon". It it my opinion based on what we experienced his word means nothing. I have dates and pictures supporting my statements.

Desired Settlement: As I stated in my text message of termination to Mr. [redacted], I plan on deducting the cost of the repairs from any oustanding balance due his company. I really do not want anything to do with him. He has caused too much anxiety to me and my wife.

Business

Response:

Business Response /* (1000, 11, 2013/07/01) */

First off, I am the owner of A+ Mowing & Landscaping and I do not hire subcontractors to do my work. I hire my employees, they use my trucks and my trailers, my mowers and all my equipment in which I pay the registrations, taxes and insurances. I send my employees to complete the work and don't check on it unless there is an issue. The first thing I tell my customers is to call me with any issues so I can deal with them personally. If I don't hear anything, I assume everything is going well.

I did this job for the [redacted] as a favor and I did not charge full price for snow plowing because I was trying to help them out because they were disgusted with their previous guy. I charged them $35 for plowing a driveway which I would have charged anybody else a minimum of $50. Yes, there was a little bit of lawn damage, but there was also 3 feet of snow on the ground and the ground was not frozen. Anybody that has experience plowing, would understand this. I'm not normally responsible for lawn damage and it is clearly stated in my contracts but I didn't give them a contract because I was doing a favor for a friend.

When I gave them a price for mulching, I told them if they wanted the mulching done I would fix the lawn damage at the same time. I was going to fix the lawn damage which I agreed to only because they were friends, and if they didn't want me to do the landscaping job, I was going to come the following afternoon and fix the lawn. They never got back to me about the mulching job. The next I heard from Mr. [redacted] was 2 weeks later that I was not allowed on the property and I was going to get charged for lawn damage.

Consumer Response /* (3000, 20, 2013/07/15) */

I was not able to respond in the one week time period because of vacation and holiday. Please add this to the report.

I have read the response. In the first paragraph Mr. [redacted] states "I do not hire subcontractors". My wife came into the house after talking with a man. She stated he said "I don't work you [redacted]. I have my own business. I am just helping him out.

In the second paragraph he brings up pricing. We did not know we were getting a discount because we are used to being charged $30-$35. I wish he said $50 because this tormenting exposure to poor customer relations would not have happen.

When he did come out he immediately stated he would repair the seven damaged areas with either top soil and seed or sod. We chose sod. Having this repair done was not contingent upon us accepting the mulching quote. This is evidenced by his May 14 text stating it will be done tomorrow (Wed May 15) in the afternoon.

In submitting this complaint I am not seeking restitution. My purposes were to have on record how Mr. [redacted] conducts his business should someone use Revdex.com when researching lawn care services and to have Mr. [redacted] re-evaluated and reflect on his business practices and customer service.

The owner of this business Mr. [redacted] is not consumer orientated. He subcontracts the company's services as he is employed as an electrian full time. I start with this because I feel this is the root of the poor quality of work provided by the subcontractors he uses to perform services. There was no indication of this on our initial coantact. He is extremely poor in returning telephone calls. He does not physically check the work of his subcontractors. He has made statements to me one time by phone, one time in person (my wife was present), and one time by text which he never followed through on. The biggest complaint is the snow plowing damage done by a subcontractor to our lawn and rock wall. As of May 23rd when we terminated his services, the repairs were not done. The last time I contacted Mr. [redacted] on this issue (Tuesday May 14) he stated the work would be done "tomorrow afternoon". It it my opinion based on what we experienced his word means nothing. I have dates and pictures supporting my statements.